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The Aeronauts (film)
| screenplay = Jack Thorne | story = | starring = | music = Steven Price | cinematography = George Steel | editing = Mark Eckersley | studio = | distributor = }} | released = | runtime = 100 minutes | country = | language = English | budget = $40 million | gross = $2.9 million }} The Aeronauts is a 2019 biographical adventure film directed by Tom Harper and written by Jack Thorne, from a story co-written by Thorne and Harper. Produced by Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman, and Harper, the film stars Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Himesh Patel and Tom Courtenay. The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019, followed by a showing at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2019, and in the United States on 6 December 2019. Plot In 1862 London, Amelia Wren travels in a horse-drawn carriage to an unknown destination. On the way, she has a sudden panic attack and leaves the carriage. Her sister Antonia tries to talk her out of the venture she is about to embark on. Amelia refuses, as a young boy runs past. He is seen heading to a large venue where a balloon is about to take flight. At the balloon, aspiring meteorologist James Glaisher waits impatiently as it nears the time he is due to take off. Eventually, Amelia (who is to be the balloon’s pilot as James will be taking scientific readings) arrives in a grand spectacle, putting on a show for the crowd much to the reserved Glaisher’s chagrin. Despite being haunted by a vision of her late husband Pierre, Amelia keeps up the brave front and the balloon launches. In one of many flashbacks, James appears before the Royal Society and explains his theory that the weather can be predicted. His ideas are seen as absurd, and he is laughed out of the building, the jeers led by Charles Green. Returning home, he speaks to his mother and father, who try to persuade him to pursue another avenue of science. On the ground, James’ assistant John Trew, who is envious of James’ trip, is approached by the boy from earlier who asks to use his telescope. John eventually agrees and is surprised when the boy manages to spot the balloon through it. On the balloon, James and Amelia start rising through the cloud layer. Both delight in the unique experience, but soon run into a violent storm which sends the balloon spinning as the two attempt to make it through the rough weather. Sometime following the death of her husband, Amelia is moping when Antonia persuades her to attend a society function. There, she is approached by James for the first time, who claims that he is attending with a friend who wishes to court a wealthy woman. Amelia is put off by his quirky nature, but dances with him to put off a suitor who wishes to approach. As they dance, James asks if she would be willing to loan him her balloon and be his pilot while he attempts to prove his theories. Amelia realizes that James is not there with a friend but attended simply to meet her. She is angry but is persuaded by him to agree. Days later, as she starts assembling the balloon, Amelia is confronted by Antonia, who requests that her sister give up on being an aeronaut and try a much more conventional career path. After some very close brushes with death, which includes James suffering a head injury, the two manage to make it through the storm and continue rising, with James releasing a pigeon carrying a message for Green stating how high they have risen. Eventually, the balloon manages to exceed 26,000 feet, beating the record for the highest altitude achieved by a human. As time passes, James and Amelia get to know each other and start to enjoy each other’s company, with James becoming less concerned with scientific readings and starting to enjoy the experience on a personal level. James also releases a second pigeon. The two soon discover an air current which is home to a flock of butterflies, confirming one of John’s theories which James had always refuted. Amelia, however, refuses to discuss the death of Pierre. Another flashback reveals that when Amelia and Pierre were on a balloon flight, something went wrong, and they needed to lose weight quickly. Having thrown everything else overboard, Pierre then sacrificed himself to save his wife by dropping over the side to his death. James releases the third pidgeon, but finds the fourth and final one has frozen to death. As he dumps it overboard anyway (to decrease the weight), Amelia finds out James didn’t bring any clothing suitable for the rapidly decreasing temperature and decides to start descending. However, James refuses, and the two have an argument over the right course of action. Eventually, Amelia agrees to keep rising, but makes it clear to James that they’ll have to start descending soon. As James practices for the flight, Amelia approaches him and tells him she’s changed her mind. He is horrified, as money has already been spent preparing for it, but she is unmoved and leaves. James goes to tell his father, who now is suffering from dementia, but when his father speaks of his pride in James, it causes him to back out. Desperate, James approaches Green asking to accompany him on a flight. Green refuses, scoffing at the idea. John goes to see Amelia and speaks up for James, showing her a book containing his studies on snowflakes to convey how much the flight would mean to James. Amelia goes to Pierre’s grave to reflect. When it begins snowing, just as James had predicted, she decides to go with him after all. The temperature is now below freezing, and Amelia demands that they start to descend. James is going slightly mad from the cold and insists they continue, and begins throwing equipment and sandbags overboard to speed up their ascent. The two get into a scuffle, and James earns himself a slap from Amelia when he invokes Pierre’s name. This brings him to his senses, and he agrees that they need to start descending. However, Amelia discovers the air release valve on top of the balloon is frozen. As James falls unconscious from apoxia, she has no choice but to climb up the outside of the balloon and open it from the top. With frostbite setting in on her hands, she struggles upward and manages to kick open the air release slightly, causing them to slowly descend. Amelia loses consciousness and topples over the side, but is saved by having tethered herself with a rope during the climb. When she awakens, Amelia manages to swing back to the balloon and tries desperately to revive James, who finally comes around. As they continue to descend, snow begins to swirl around them, and they realize the balloon has started to collapse. They manage to get the air release opened fully, but it is not sufficient to mitigate their descent, so they start throwing everything they can over the side, including James’ log book (James makes sure to pocket his records). When this also doesn’t work, the two resort to climbing onto the framework and releasing the basket. Amelia then prepares to sacrifice herself like Pierre, but James convinces her that they can use the collapsed balloon as a parachute, which slows their descent. Nevertheless, they crash through trees and hit the ground hard, with Amelia being dragged several yards along with the balloon. She awakens and starts calling for James, who staggers towards her. Both are injured, but euphoric that they managed to survive. A voice-over by Amelia states that James’ findings eventually paved the way for the first weather reports. James gives another speech to the Royal Society, and he and his field are finally accepted, with James earning a standing ovation from his fellows. The film ends with James and Amelia going on another balloon flight together. Cast * Felicity Jones as Amelia Wren * Eddie Redmayne as James Glaisher * Himesh Patel as John Trew, James' friend * Tom Courtenay as Arthur Glaisher, James' father * Phoebe Fox as Antonia * Vincent Perez as Pierre Wren, Amelia's husband * Anne Reid as Ethel Glaisher, James' mother * Tim McInnerny as George Biddell Airy * Rebecca Front as Aunt Frances Production In December 2016, Amazon Studios purchased the film rights to Jack Thorne's spec script. In mid-2018, Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne were confirmed to star in the film. Filming commenced in early August, in West London Film Studios. Filming locations in England included the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, Regent's Park, London, Claydon House, Buckinghamshire, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and Wrotham Park, London. Key action sequences in The Aeronauts were designed for IMAX and feature an expanded aspect ratio for both IMAX and select Premium Large Format cinemas. Historical accuracy The film is based on an amalgam of the flights detailed in Richard Holmes' 2013 book Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air ( ). The most significant balloon flight depicted in The Aeronauts is based on the 5 September, 1862, flight of British aeronauts James Glaisher and Henry Coxwell whose coal gas filled balloon broke the world flight altitude record, reaching about . However, while Glaisher appears in the film, Coxwell has been replaced by Amelia Wren, a fictional character. A report in the Daily Telegraph quotes Keith Moore, Head of Library at the Royal Society as saying, "It's a great shame that Henry Coxwell isn't portrayed because he performed very well and saved the life of a leading scientist". Moore then criticised the film's fictional female protagonist, stating “There were so many deserving female scientists of that period who haven't had films made about them. Why not do that instead?" In an interview with The List, Harper explained that whilst the film was inspired by a number of historical flights, the intention was never to make a documentary and he wanted the film to be reflective of a contemporary audience. He also commented on a gender bias in science, stating "There were female scientists around at the time, but not in the Royal Society... to this day, only eight percent of the Royal Society is female." Other critics of the film have praised Amelia as an important, aspirational female character. Sasha Stone of Awards Daily wrote that The Aeronauts "inspires young girls and nudges the perspectives of young boys... (proving) that women can be just as excited about taking a hero's journey as any man can." In addition to Coxwell, actual individuals who comprise the Amelia Wren's character include: * Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to work as a professional balloonist, who became a celebrated aeronaut following her husband's death. Felicity Jones has stated that Blanchard was the inspiration for her character. * Margaret Graham, a British aeronaut and entertainer. Wren's relationship with husband Pierre is chiefly based on Sophie Blanchard's flights with husband Jean-Pierre Blanchard, while Pierre's death is inspired by that of Thomas Harris on 25 May, 1824. Release The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019. It also screened at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2019. Entertainment One gave the film a full theatrical release in the United Kingdom on 4 November, including screenings in 4DX and IMAX. Amazon Studios released the film in the United States on 6 December for a limited theatrical run, before debuting it on Amazon Prime Video worldwide on 20 December 2019. In October 2019, it was announced that The Aeronauts would screen at the IMAX TCL Chinese Theatre as part of AFI Fest. Reception Box office As with its other fall release The Report, Amazon did not publicly release box office results for the film. However, 48 of the 186 theaters that did screen it in its opening weekend reported a combined gross of around $30,000. IndieWire estimated the film made a total of $185,000 in its opening weekend, an average of $1,000 per-venue. It then made just an estimated $100,000 from 85 theaters in its second weekend. , The Aeronauts has grossed an estimated $340,000 in North America and $2.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $2.9 million. Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 72% based on 158 reviews, with an average rating of 6.42/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Thrilling visuals and the substantial chemistry of its well-matched leads make The Aeronauts an adventure well worth taking." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on reviews from 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The Aeronauts achieves impressive elevation as a bracing and sympathetic account of two early and very different aviators who together reached literal new heights in a perilous field of endeavor." Telluride 2019 |url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/aeronauts-review-1236003 |work= The Hollywood Reporter }} Fionnuala Halligan of Screen International wrote about the chemistry of the lead actors and the great craft on display in the film: "With the widest of wide-screens, the most vertiginous of vistas, this hot air balloon takes to the skies and soars." Tomris Laffly of Variety praised the visuals and the lead performers: "The duo Redmayne and Jones hand-in-hand elevates The Aeronauts...from a flimsy action-adventure to something worth watching on the biggest possible screen, even if it operates on a handful of clichés with little character-based substance to speak of." Many critics also applauded the film's special effects and visuals. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian noted the film's "terrific special effects" and "high-anxiety suspense". Eric John of IndieWire wrote: "When so many supersized blockbusters take the potential of CGI action for granted, The Aeronauts finds a fresh use for it by turning the exhilaration of discovery into a real visual treat." In a generally positive review, critic Bob Mondello showed special enthusiasm for the airborne scenes, writing: "I cannot say strongly enough that if you can see it in IMAX, you should see it in IMAX, where if you're even a little bit afraid of heights, it will likely scare you shoutless." References External links * Category:2010s action drama films Category:2010s adventure films Category:2010s biographical drama films Category:2019 films Category:Action films based on actual events Category:Adventure films based on actual events Category:Amazon Studios films Category:American action adventure films Category:American action drama films Category:American adventure drama films Category:American aviation films Category:American biographical drama films Category:American films Category:Aviation films Category:British action films Category:British adventure films Category:British aviation films Category:British biographical drama films Category:British films Category:English-language films Category:FilmNation Entertainment films Category:Films directed by Tom Harper Category:Films set in 1859 Category:Films set in 1860 Category:Films set in 1861 Category:Films set in 1862 Category:Films set in London Category:Mandeville Films films Category:IMAX films Category:Film scores by Steven Price